Sean's Queen
by Kat Lee formerly Pirate Turner
Summary: Emma has been having strange, repetitive dreams twice a year since Sean's death. When a change in her dreams lead her to Cassidy Keep, what will she find? A trap? Death? Or perhaps a renewed lifetime of love? Het. Delightfully AU.


Title: "Sean's Queen"  
Author: Pirate Turner  
Rating: R for mentions of suicide and murder  
Summary: Emma has been having strange, repetitive dreams twice a year since Sean's death. When a change in her dreams lead her to Cassidy Keep, what will she find? A trap? Death? Or perhaps a renewed lifetime of love?  
Spoilers: None  
Warnings: Het, AU, Holiday Fic (Spring Solstice/Ostara)  
Word Count (excluding heading): 8,813  
Disclaimer: Emma "White Queen" Frost, Sean "Banshee" Cassidy, Scott "Cyclops" Summers, Teresa "Siryn" Cassidy, Jean Grey-Summers, Professor Charles Francis "Professor X" Xavier, Everett "Synch" Thomas, Jubilation "Jubilee" Lee, all other characters mentioned within, X-Men, and Generation X are & TM Marvel comics and Disney, not the author, and are used without permission. Everything else is & TM the author. The author makes absolutely no profit off of this work of fan fiction, and no copyright infringement is intended.  
Author's Note: Resending this one after finally having had a chance to read it to Jack and fixing some small errors.

"Em . . . Em . . . Em . . . " Her name resonated all throughout the landscape as her dream lover called to her in his wonderfully delicious brogue. Her whole body throbbed with the aching need to be able to answer him, but still his name caught in her throat. Tears spilled down her face, running as hot and wild as her heart pounded. She ran, trying desperately to reach him before he vanished on her yet again.

The woods broke, and as trees fell to either side of her, a castle loomed up. For the first time in years, hope flooded Emma's soul as she saw her love standing on the steps, his arms open wide in invitation as he continued to call her. Emma ran, bounding across the lush, green land and springing for the steps and her beloved Sean's open, waiting arms. His emerald eyes were alight with love and hope, but then, just before they could touch, his eyes darkened with fear. "Nae, Em, luv, di nae leave me!"

But it was too late for the strings of consciousness were already pulling Emma awake. She fought to linger in the first good dream she'd had since losing Sean and their children, but it was to no avail. Emma sat up in the bed she shared with a man who could never have her heart for it had always belonged to Sean, her heart still pounding a frantic rhythm and her body trembling.

As she fought to stop shaking, Emma remembered the castle. Her trembles finally subsided in the wake of her resolved determination. Emma had dreamed of Sean every night for years, but twice a year since his death, her dreams followed the same pattern she had been experiencing over the last few nights.

They always started in March, began on Saint Patrick's Day, and lasted until the twentieth or twenty-first. Emma had researched the dates, but the only thing that stood out about them was the Irish holiday and that the latter was the Pagan Spring Solstice. She had enjoyed celebrating St. Patty's with Sean, but the other holiday was of no importance to her for she had come to believe, with the loss of Sean and every one else who she'd ever dared to be foolish to love, that any and all Gods that may exist had turned Their backs on her.

The other time she had the dreams was on Halloween, or Samhain, as Tarot had once told her it was called by the Witches. Again, although it was an important holiday for the Pagans, it held no importance for her. She had heard the tales that the boundaries between reality and the Valley of Death could be crossed then and that spirits often traveled to visit their loved ones who still lived at that time, but she'd never been fool enough to believe in them.

Besides, as she'd always told herself, no one had ever cared enough for her to travel back from the dead to tell her anything. She did not even have the heart to smirk at her own worthlessness as she considered that if some one had, it most likely would have been to tell her how terrible a monster she was, how much they hated her, and that it was her fault they were dead. Yes, she could see them now. They would converge upon her like vultures on a dying animal, ripping what little was left of her heart and soul to shreds with nothing but their words of hatred.

As the images of those she had lost swelled within her mind, Emma mentally clawed her way pass her grief, anguish, and guilt to focus again on her dreams. Every one, up until tonight, had always been the same. She ran through a thick forest with some mysterious, unseen weight bearing down upon her, desperately trying to find Sean as he called her name.

Tonight's dream had been different. She had finally seen him, standing brave, tall, and true upon the steps of his family castle with his arms open wide and waiting for her. Her throat tightened, and she forced down the sob that swelled within. She had almost touched him, and he had begged her not to go!

It might all be an elaborate trap. It was probably nothing more than the desperate and wild imaginings of a woman whose foolish mistakes had led her to lose everything and every one who had ever been truly important to her. Regardless, Emma knew she had to investigate her dreams until she discovered the meaning behind them, and now, at last, she knew where to find her answers. She had to go to Cassidy Keep.

Scott stirred and softly moaned Jean's name as Emma slipped out of bed. She looked down at him with great sadness and remorse clouding her lovely, blue eyes. When the whole world had turned against her, he had remained true to her. He had loved her as well as he had been able, and though at first he'd been nothing more than an ends to a means for her, Scott Summers, a man whose goodness she had once hated as vehemently as she now did the reflection of her own face, had become her one true friend in the entire world. He had kept her perhaps not sane but at least alive, for better or for worse.

Tears shimmered in Emma's eyes as she bent and kissed Scott's forehead. Somehow, instinctively, the telepath knew already that she would not see him again after this night. She thought that it was because she would finally succumb to the endless grief that pounded her heart and soul every moment of her life, but never would she have imagined what truly awaited her on the Emerald Isle.

{{{Forget about me,}}} she whispered in his mind, {{{and chase your real dreams.}}} Jean had returned from the dead already so many times that, whereas she herself had no hope of ever obtaining the heart of the man she loved, Emma had never stopped believing that one day Scott would be granted his chance to reunite with the love of his life. She would never stand in the way of his true happiness.

Emma dressed quickly and silently slipped from the room. She did not make a sound as she headed for the hanger and added the "theft" of the Blackbird to the list of countless things the rest of the X-Men hated her for. She would return the jet and had just as much right as any of them to borrow it, but she knew they would never see it that way. Everything she did, to them, was wrong for they would never see her as anything more than the heartless bitch who had once been one of the four leaders of the Hellfire Club, warring against them and murdering innocent beings. She was nothing more to them than a cruel, heartless, murdering, and thieving whore, even though it had been years since she had stolen anything, she had never taken a life without feeling that it was necessary to protect herself or those she considered hers, and she had absolutely never lowered herself to the state that they all presumed she had due to the uniform she wore, a costume which she had particularly created with the thought pattern of man's lesser brain in mind.

Each of the X-Men, with the sole exceptions of Scott and Professor Xavier, had pitted their own silent battles against her, intent on avenging every wrong she had ever made, whether it was true or only to their way of thinking, by their cruelty to her and never once allowing her a chance to try to make things right. As she had been told countless times by more than one of those who were supposed to be her allies, nothing could ever make right the murders she had committed or allowed to happen. They even blamed her for he death of her first beloved Hellions, and although Emma would have taken her own life before she'd knowingly allowed fatal harm to come to any of them, she supposed she was as guilty as Fitzroy for she had failed to protect them and they had been killed to hurt her. Actually, she admitted, heaving a sigh, there was no suppose to it. She was guilty of their deaths; she might as well have killed them herself.

The one life that she had taken that she could not understand their reactions to was when she had done what was necessary to protect the rest of Generation X and avenged Everett's murder. They had all turned away from her then, even her beloved Sean, but Emma knew that had almost any one else, such as Wolverine, Domino, Cable, Rogue, or even Sean, done the deed, their reactions would have been nowhere near as vehement. They would not have been hated. Some of their team mates might have been angry, but eventually they would have been forgiven and allowed to move on. Emma herself would never know the sweet mercy of forgiveness.

* * *

The moment Emma entered Ireland, she began to feel something strange stirring within the fiber of her being. She frowned and tried to ignore the absurd notion that she was at last coming home again.

Still miles away, a man lifted his head. His smile was genuine and reached his emerald eyes, lighting them with the vibrancy of hope for the first time in years. He had been successful in reaching her! She was coming at last, and the very fact that she had heard him meant she loved him!

However, doubt pulled at the strings of his heart then, and his handsome features saddened. Did she really love him, or could her telepathy simply be making her more susceptible to his glamour? How could she love him after he had turned away from her when she'd needed him the most? How could she still feel anything but anger or, worse yet, hatred for him after how terribly he had hurt her and betrayed her trust?

He had no right to call her, but there was none other whom he could ever want for his Queen. He must be married and soon or else his magick would be dimmed and his title stripped forever.

* * *

Emma could almost hear Sean's voice in her head as she landed the Blackbird on top of Cassidy Keep. "Em," he would have cried had he been there, "are ye daft, woman? Di ye nae ha'e any respect fer me ancestors?"

She would have smiled and clipped off some retort that they could not possibly care about wherever she chose to land the plane when they had been dead for centuries. That would have brought him shooting back at her with whatever the first words that popped to his tongue were, and they would have been off and running with another argument where each tried to outdo the other. Neither would have won, yet both would have been winners for they would have each succeeded in sparking the fire in the other one and demanding their attention.

Emma smiled sadly in remembrance. The children would have been there, and while they had been arguing, they would have been unboarding in a hurry. Some, like Jubilee, would have purposefully snuck off while others, such as Paige and their dearly departed Everett, would have followed their mates with the good intentions of protecting them and keeping them out of trouble. All, however, would have landed themselves in the hottest water they could possibly find, and Sean and she would have had to work together to save them. She would have expressed great displeasure at almost anything she had to do that required her to be close to him, but secretly she would have been thrilled to be experiencing another adventure beside her wonderful Irishman and would have nearly lost her control every time any part of his body had brushed up against any part of hers.

She tingled at the memories of the feelings that one touch from him had always sent coursing throughout her body and soul as she descended from the plane. Only Sean had ever had the power to melt her every defense and leave her tough heart an aching puddle of goo.

It had finally happened, she thought as she walked across the roof of the castle, her high-heeled boots echoing in the solitude. She had finally lost the fragile sanity she had fought to hold on to for years. Why had she fought so hard to keep from losing it? she asked herself not for the first time. No one cared what she did or did not do for the future of mutantkind, no one save herself.

Charles had been the first man to believe that she might have some good left in her after the murders of her beloved Hellions, but Sean had been the first to truly stand beside her and help her try to recreate her life. As she entered the castle and heard the plane take off behind her, Emma remembered back to the first time he had told her she was beginning to show a glimpse of a soul. She had been ready to quit that night and had fully believed that her admission that she'd hurt an innocent child would cause him to throw her away to the sins of her past and barricade her from ever seeing their children again. Instead he had smiled and quite nearly told her he was proud of her for recognizing the monster within and hating herself because of it. She wondered where Leech was now; none of the team had trusted her to protect him when she'd shot her sister.

But even then Sean had not forced their children to leave her. He had turned his back on her, and they had all left her of their own accord. They had hated her, she thought, tears beginning to spill down her lovely face, hated her for avenging the cold-hearted murder of one of their own and doing the only thing she could to protect the rest of them from Everett's killer. It shouldn't have mattered that his killer was her sister nor how she had done it, but to the very people whom she had done it for, it had.

A sob escaped her now in the lonely emptiness of the castle. She was such a fool! She should have known better than to think that Sean could have been calling for her. He was dead, and even if he had not been, he never would have wanted her. He hated her for avenging the murder of their student, a dear, sweet boy who had trusted them with his life and future only to have both taken from him far too soon!

"I'm sorry," she whispered chokingly and finally let herself fall to her knees. "I'm so sorry to have made you all hate me!" Suddenly she could see all of her former students and Sean, too, standing before her, and her tears spilled even faster, hotter, and more numerous down her cheeks. "I'm so sorry! I never wanted to lose you!"

One of the ghosts moved forward. Sean's hands splayed open wide, and her breath caught at how inviting, and real, his arms looked. "Ack, Em, I'm th' sorry one! Ye did th' only t'ing ye knew tae protect our kids."

Emma had longed to hear those words coming from Sean's mouth since the day he'd turned away from her, but she knew that all she was seeing now was an illusion. Her heart broke still a little more from the loving, apologetic look that shone on his handsome, pleading face and in his emerald eyes. "You're only saying that," she whispered, "because it's what I want to hear." She had indeed finally slipped into insanity.

"Nae, Em, lass, I'm sayin' what I should've said tha' day. Ye're nae a monster, luv, only a scared an' confused woman tryin' tae di what she t'inks best fer people who've ne'er appreciated her. An' I'm nae a ghost or an hallucination." He reached her and softly cupped her cheek.

No ghost's touch had ever felt so real, and no man but Sean had ever made her tingle and tremble inside as she was now doing. "S-Sean?" Her fingers trembled as she hesitantly touched the hand that caressed her cheek.

His thumb drew gingerly across her cheek, sending a thousand volts of electricity shooting through her as he whispered, "Aye, Em, 'tis me," and then he kissed her.

It seemed to Emma like she had been waiting for the moment all her life, and the questions that should have been racing through her mind were silenced by the pleasurable fire that spread from his lips touching hers throughout every fiber of her being. Her left hand lay hesitantly upon his muscular chest, and the realness of his being seemed to thrum through her very fingertips. Her mouth opened underneath his in silent acceptance, and he immediately grasped the invitation, his tongue sweeping home. When she moaned in ecstasy, he wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her crushingly close to his chest. Emma ran her hands up his body, over his shoulders, and nestled her fingers in his reddish-gold mane, only then noting that his hair had grown.

Both were filled with more pleasure than they'd ever before known as heat sprang from the other's merest touch, spread through their whole beings, and threatened to consume their very souls. Their skin was just as soft and hair as silken as they'd always thought it would be, and both would have given anything for that moment to last forever.

But alas, time ticks on and lungs demand oxygen, and so the two lovers were forced to part. He held her against him, and she ached to stay right there in the warm, safe, and loving confines of his arms forever more. "Ack, Em," he breathed, gazing into her wonderful baby blues with his forehead still touching hers, "I'm sure yer mind must be swimmin' wit' questions, lass."

"Yes," she acknowledged in a whisper for it did not seem right to speak at a proper tone right now. It was almost as though to do so would somehow lessen the magic of the moment, and she knew that if the magic left, he would go with it. She could not bare the thought of losing him again, even if he were only a startlingly realistic figment of her imagination. "But they can wait. Kiss me again, Sean . . . "

He stroked her cheek and splayed his hand lovingly across her face. His curling fingertips entwined in the ending tendrils of her blonde hair. "If'n only it could, luv, but midnight 'tis approachin' swiftly an' then me time in this realm will be o'er fer another seven months."

He shouldn't have grinned at her, but he couldn't help it. Emma had always looked undeniably cute when shocked as she was now. Her mouth hung agape, but no sounds were coming out. The Irishman in him was on full display as he grinned mischievously, winked conspiratorially, and opened his mind to her.

Emma gasped and had to clutch Sean tighter for support as the barrage of his memories hit her. "Sorry, luv," she scarcely heard him say, "but as I said, th' bloody time 'tis pressin'."

She nodded mutely even as realization dawned and her hope soared. The man holding her was no figment of her imagination, no ghost, and not even a cruel hallucination or a trick some one might have been playing on her! He was the real thing! He truly was Sean Cassidy, the man whose touch she had longed for since they had first fought together years ago, the secret love who had haunted her every thought and dream since then, the only man who she could ever love, and he was alive!!!

And he had kissed her, which clearly meant that not all her fears of his never being able to care for her at all were unfounded! Her body tingled as though a million tiny fires lit her insides. Her mind shouted in victory, and her heart and soul soared through the skies and on pass even the faintest recesses of the galaxy as she remembered the feeling she had felt in their kiss and saw clearly in his mind that he did indeed love her!

Only then did Emma begin to really pay attention to the other memories Sean was showing her. She felt the pain as he was ensnarled by the jet, but then confusion followed as he awoke to find himself very much alive and surrounded by Little People. The Faerie folk had always been a part of his life, but it was only then that Sean had learned why. His mother -- Saints bless her soul -- had been a Leprechaun Princess!

The shock of that revelation weighed on Emma as heavily as it had on Sean. Sean had never known his mother and had instead been raised by his father. As a little boy, he'd questioned his Da often about his Mother, but his Da had never been forthcoming with the answers he had so desperately sought. He had tried to look her up when he'd gotten older but to no avail.

It was the Little People who he had grown up with his whole life who had finally told him the truth about his Mother. She had indeed loved his father very much, but her Mother had called to her from her dying bed. As her father had already gone under the hill and she had no other siblings, it had fallen to her to either take over the reigns of the Leprechaun Kingdom or let sheer chaos take over as they battled over who was the next best choice for successor. She had been torn between her love for her family and love for her people, but unable to ignore her mother's dying wish for her to take over, she had chosen to leave her family and fulfill her duty to her people.

The day that Sean had been fighting to save the people on the jet, his Mother had been reaching out to him as she lay dying. It was the disturbance of her pull on his mind that had caused him to be too slow in escaping. When he had awakened, he had no longer been in the world he had known, and his Mother had passed.

Tears once more slipped down Emma's face as she felt her beloved's pain at the second loss of his mother and the knowledge that he would never get to know her. She was unable to see him clearly for the tears that filled her eyes and the vivid memories that marred her eyesight, but still she pulled him closer, wrapping her arms tightly around him and holding his head close to her heart.

Sean heard the beat of Emma's heart, and his own heartbeat quickened in response. She loved him! Despite all the pain and heartache he had put her through, despite the years that had passed since he'd so foolishly turned his back on her, she loved him!!!

Emma watched through the windows Sean had readily opened to his mind as he grieved for his mother, grieved over the loss of his life in the Mortal Realm, grieved over all the children he had loved and lost, and -- she gasped -- grieved over her. She felt his heartache over the way he had so cruelly turned his back to her, and it mirrored her own over how he had treated her. She also sensed his great sorrow over the loss of their little family, his understanding over why she had reacted the way she had, and his -- her shock grew -- his _respect_ and admiration of her strength. He had wanted to be able to kill Adrienne for murdering Everett but had feared both the darkening of his soul and the others' reactions, and so he had let her do the deed, knowing all along that she would stop at nothing until she found a way to keep her sister from harming any of their other students and avenged Everett's death no matter what it took.

"Se-Sean . . . " She tried to speak, to ask him the questions that swelled within her, but her voice broke.

"Ack, Em, lass, as I said, 'tis I who's sorry," he murmured, holding her face in his hands and wiping her tears away with his thumbs.

"I -- I don't understand . . . "

"Look deeper, luv," he told her, "an' ye will. From this day forward an' fer as long as ye'll have me, me mind 'tis an open book fer ye tae read whene'er ye like, jest as it should've been all those years ago. Maybe then we would nae ha'e suffered so, but I 'twas a coward . . . "

"You've always been the bravest man I've ever known," she whispered, her confusion growing clearly upon her face and in her eyes.

"Ye di nae mean tha'."

"I do." There was only one other whose bravery came close to matching Sean's in Emma's eyes, and that was Charles, Charles, who had first believed in her ability to change; Charles, who had handed his team over to Cyclops without a fight; Charles, who was ultimately unwilling to do what must be done to save what little family he had left.

"Ye di nae knae very many men then," he commented with a sad smile.

"I know the ones whom I wish to know," she replied, reassuringly stroking his handsome face, "and you are top of that list."

"'Tis an honor, fair lady, but, like I said, I 'twas a coward. I loved ye even back then, Em; I still do an' always will. But I 'twas scared, ye see, scared ye could nae e'er feel th' same 'bout me -- after all, what had I tae offer ye? -- an' scared that, if'n ye did, ye'd still be pulled back tae th' bad side or," he shrugged defeatedly and looked at her apologetically, "tha' th' others simply would nae understand. The X-Men were me family, th' only real family I'd known fer years, an' I was scared o' lettin' 'em down, o' losin' their friendships, their respect . . . "

"You would have," she spoke softly, "had you ever admitted your feelings for me, but, Sean, it doesn't matter!" She was smiling now. Her whole face was lit up by her wide, beaming smile, and she glowed with happiness. "You said you love me!"

"Aye, tha' I did, an' I meant it . . . "

"I love you too!" She kissed him, and his lips parted eagerly underneath her touch. He moaned as she deepened their kiss, sliding her tongue into his mouth to explore his sweetness for the second time. Their tongues danced, and time itself seemed to stand still as they continued to kiss until their burning lungs again forced them to part.

Sean lifted his head and gently broke the kiss. His hands still cupped her face, and he stroked her skin tenderly as he bemoaned, "Ack, but, Em, tha' 'tis but th' beginnin' o' th' story!"

Her eyes searched his. Why was he still worried? "You love me, and I love you, Sean. What else could matter?" Then, remembering his words about the X-Men who hated her so, she queried in concern, "Are you still worried about how the others will react?" Surely that couldn't be it! If he still cared for them so, why had he only now revealed that he still lived? Why let them think him dead if he still cared about them so much? For that matter, why let _her_ think him dead?

She recalled that he had grieved for the loss of the world he'd known and realized that he couldn't return to her realm. Fear struck her, and she searched his eyes more deeply. "You can't stay, can you?"

"Nae," he breathed in a deep sigh of regret.

Pain hit her, raw, fresh, and horrendous. He loved her, but he had to leave her! A tear slipped from her eye.

He brushed it away. "Din't cry, luv. Nae yet at least. Hear me out first."

"What else can there be to be said?" Emma cried. "I finally have your love, and you can't stay!" Tears welled up within her saddened blue eyes and threatened to spill over.

"Shush," Sean whispered and placed a finger against her trembling lips. He kissed her forehead first and then replaced his finger with his lips. "Jest hush fer a wee moment, luv, an' listen. There may be hope yet; it depends on ye, a chuisle mo chro. Watch th' rest o' me tale, an' then tell me yer answer."

What question could he possibly have to ask her that would make any difference? Emma wondered but did as he requested. Tears slipped silently down her cheeks; he did his best to kiss each one away as he showed her his memories, letting her read his past like an open book as he should have done so long ago.

Emma again saw that fateful day when he had first learned that he was royalty. There had been no other ever born to take his Mother's throne for she'd not loved another other than his father and Black Tom's evil spirit had placed him firmly out of the running. His people had needed him in the Faerie Realm, whereas he felt that no one needed him any longer in his own world. Without a steady hand to rule over them, chaos would destroy the gentle Leprechauns and their beautiful land as a few who were power hungry despite their normally gentile natures would fight over all that remained until there was only one left standing as conqueror.

Sean had grown up surrounded by some of the Little People and was closer to certain ones than he'd ever been to his own Da, so he could not simply turn away from their plight or the position they offered him. Matters were simplified on a logical level yet otherwise complicated when they explained with sad faces, concerned eyes, and understanding voices that he could never go home again for it was their magic that had reconstructured his body. He was thought to be dead in his own realm, and if he did return permanently, he would be leaving their enchantments behind and eventually find himself nothing more than a ghost. Their magick was extremely limited in the Realm of Science, and it was only in their own realm that they could promise him life. Thus it had been that Sean had accepted the Kingship and ruled with a firm but fair hand.

It was only recently that his right to the title had come into question, and Emma burned with his indignation of what had happened. One of the few contenders to the Leprechaun throne had brought before the Council of Faerie Royalty an old rule that Kings must be able to produce a heir. Sean had refused to marry any of their people for he could not love any one they had to offer when his heart still belonged to Emma and would marry for no other reason but love. Emma's tears had already subsided at Sean's gentle, reassuring touches and the feelings that he had felt before radiating through her now, and she couldn't help smiling at the memory of how Sean had resolutely refused to deny his love for her by even considering marrying another.

He had considered Teresa as a heir but refused to ever snatch her away from her life and world as his Mother had done to him. That had left him only two courses of action. Sean could either give up the crown or petition his peers and the Elders to allow him to marry one not of their own kind. Emma marveled as she watched Sean's debates and felt his relief at discovering that there was neither rule nor law that said the King could not wed an outsider.

But she had to be willing, and Sean would never do anything to any one he loved against their consent. He had traveled through the realms during the Spring Solstice season and Samhain and did his best during his entire stay to reach her through dream magick.

He had tried to call to her, but still he refused to do anything against her consent. Against her will . . . The thoughts echoed, and she recognized them for his present thoughts instead of his memories. As she felt his doubts begin to rise and heard his voice from the past questioning in their minds whether or not the one he loved could ever love him in return, especially after all he'd put her through, and if she would ever consent to being his wife and coming to his world, even if she could, by some miracle, love him, Emma's heart soared for she finally knew what question had been weighing so heavily upon him. He was going to ask her to marry him!

Thrills shot through Emma, and her heart and soul soared far beyond any plane of happiness she'd ever known. Pure joy rocketed through her as her heart sped on wings of love to the further-most cosmos and beyond. Even as complete happiness filled her racing thoughts, Emma saw the Circle of other Faerie Royalty and Elders, both of the Leprechaun race and the other Fae races, explaining to Sean that she would make an acceptable wife but would be required to stay in his world forever.

Emma had already witnessed glimpses of the beauty and acceptance displayed in Sean's world, and there was nothing left for her here in her own. The only person on the whole Earth who cared about her, outside of her beloved Sean, was Scott, and there was little doubt in her mind that he would be better off without her. Besides, the whole world could love her, and it wouldn't matter if she didn't have the only man who would ever rule her heart. Sean loved her, and as long as there was a way, she'd never let anything part them ever again!

Sean's hands slipped softly down Emma's face, her neck, her shoulders, and her arms to take her hands in his. He gazed deeply into her amazed blue eyes and said again in that thick Irish brogue she loved so much, "I love ye, Emma." Then he knelt before her. Still gazing into her eyes, he began a speech he had worked over countless times in his mind but which saying aloud still made him as nervous as a fledgling crimefighter tossed into the midst of the greatest supervillains in the world.

"I've loved ye fer years, an' I was a shameful bastard tae ne'er ha' th' courage tae tell ye tha' meself 'til now. Yer beauty takes me breath away, an' yer courage inspires me e'ery day. Ye are th' strongest, most beautiful, bravest, smartest, an' simply all around most wonderful woman I've e'er had th' pleasure o' knowin'."

"When Charles first told me I was tae work wit' ye, I was terrified, absolutely afraid tha' we were nae th' right ones fer th' job, but he insisted. He always was a crafty, ol' devil. I t'ink perhaps he knew what there was tae come between us 'fore'n we e'er suspected."

She doubted that for she'd wanted Sean from the first moment they'd started working together at a time when nearly all the rest of the X-Men had either been taken by the Phalanx or were otherwise unreachable. She recalled telling him on one of those nights when they, along with only Jubilee and Everett, had been on the run from the Phalanx that she had a list of things she could do to impress him. She'd never once stopped wanting to be able to use every trick on that list she'd never used to seduce any one else into bed on him. Still one never could be sure with Charles and his crazed plans. Emma let Sean talk, and as his words caressed her ears, her heart and soul soared ever higher.

"I've since come tae t'ink tha' tha' day he put us taegether was fate. Nae, not tae t'ink," he corrected his own thoughts. "I knae 'twas fate fer us tae work taegether, tae get tae knae each other better, tae fall in love."

"I should've been flogged th' day I turned ye away, Em. Ye only did what we all wanted tae but lacked th' courage tae di. It was so clear tha' they hated ye fer it, though, an' I 'twas afraid tha' if'n I stood wit' ye, they'd hate me too. Ye might not knae this, lass, but when I first met th' X-Men, I was tryin' tae steal from 'em. I had tae work hard tae win their respect, trust, an' luv, an' it meant a lot tae me tha' they came tae accept me an' trust me."

"It meant tae much tae me fer I let the finest diamond tae e'er shine in me life slip through me cursed fingers. The day ye joined me, sweetheart, was th' best day o' me life, an' it was blessed fate tha' we work an' live together. I screwed it all up, but there'd naught e'er be enough words in any language tae e'er express tae ye jest how truly sorry I am so all I can say, a ghr mo chro, is that I'm sorry an' if'n there was any way I could e'er go back in time an' redo tha' day, I'd stand by ye through tha' an' everything tha' followed an' I'd ne'er waste another day nae tellin' ye how endlessly much I luv ye." He kissed her hands as his eyes pleaded with her to overlook their past. "I beg yer forgiveness."

Emma started to speak, to tell him that, of course, she forgave him, but he continued with barely a breath passing. "I knae I'm jest a lowly bloke, luv. Me lies an' treachery have made me tha' way even if I am a King now, but me luv is true. Nae matter what happens, nae matter yer answer, I'll love ye alone fer all time an' beyond wit' e'ery fiber o' me heart, soul, body, an' mind."

"There's nae pressure here, lass, save th' time, an' tha' I can nae help. 'Tis but twenty minutes 'til th' Witching Hour, an' when th' clock tolls again, I must be on th' other side. I will nae be able tae return again 'til Samhain, an' even then I may nae be able tae come fer I'll nae longer be King an' I'll not be knowin' where that'll leave me o'er there. Regardless o' if I e'er see ye 'gain or no, I'll still love ye, an' ye'll ne'er leave me thoughts, nae even fer th' scantest o' seconds."

"But I must knae, Em," he said, releasing her right hand and slipping his fingers into his breast pocket. "Can ye love me, truly, fer all time? Will ye have me, lowly clurichaun tha' I am?" He brought out a small, gold box from his pocket and cracked it open. Emma's breath caught in her throat for she'd never seen a more priceless jewel, both figuratively and literally, than the ancient Claddagh ring encrusted with the purest emeralds and diamonds and embedded with true gold that now sparkled up at her. "Will ye make me th' happiest man in both our worlds, th' proudest King? Will ye marry me, me luv?"

"Yes! Oh, yes, Sean!" Emma cried, weeping for joy, as she fell into his arms and covered him with kisses.

Sean reveled in the kisses but then pulled just far enough away from her that he could look seriously upon her and search her face and eyes for any signs of doubt. He'd never let her do anything she'd regret ever again. "Ye realize, me darlin', tha' this means givin' up yer world? Ye can ne'er come home again."

Emma's smile remained brilliant as, with but one word, Sean's heart began to sink. "No," she said. But her next words made his heart and soul dance with joy as much as his proposal had made hers. "I'm coming home, Sean, to the best thing that's ever happened to me, the greatest treasure that's ever shone in my life, and that which I was a fool to let slip through my fingers. I'm coming home to you, my love!"

She kissed him again, long and deep, and their bodies wrapped lovingly around each other, claiming one another wordlessly as theirs forever. They only parted when voices began to clear all around them, and even then they stayed with their arms lovingly wrapped around one another. Sean blushed as they looked up and then down to find various members of his People gathered all around them. "Lads an' lasses," he announced proudly, his fingers entwined with Emma's, "meet yer new Queen." Then, making it official, he removed his Claddagh ring from its box, which was about as old as the ring itself though kept in fine condition, and slipped it onto the ring finger of Emma's left hand. Cheers went up from every Leprechaun, Faerie, and Elf gathered as Sean kissed Emma's hand and then her lips again.

A quiet voice interrupted them this time, and Emma turned to see a young girl with pink skin and pointed ears looking up at them from right beside Sean's elbow. "A thousand pardons, yer Highnesses, but if'n we di nae hurry, th' portal will soon close wit'out us."

_Your Highnesses_. The words rang in Emma's ears. At one time, she would have been thrilled at the idea that some one considered her royalty, but now the term gladdened her heart for another reason entirely. She was already being accepted by her love's people as their Queen!

There would be no hatred where she was going also, Emma realized, recalling glimpses she'd already seen of Sean's world and people through her beloved fiance's eyes. There would be no blame for anything that had happened before. No one would hate her for what she had been. No one save her sweet Sean would even know who she had been before or any of the horrors that had happened, and he loved her! He truly loved her!

"Is everythin' as I asked?" Sean questioned the lass who, despite her fragile and young appearance, was well over seven-hundred years-old.

"Aye." Several of those around her bobbed their heads in agreement.

Emma felt as though she was being led through a fairy tale as Sean, still holding on to her hand, rose and walked with her through Cassidy Keep. An old Irish song started, and Emma was surprised to realize it was his -- no, _their_, she corrected herself -- people singing and playing tiny instruments. They sang a song of love, of two hearts finally united after the world had tried so hard to split them apart, and Emma realized that, somehow, perhaps magickally, they knew the words to the song already playing in her heart.

She gasped as they entered the Great Hall. The whole castle suddenly seemed alive! Little People of every imaginable sort filled the room. All were lined up in rows that left a single aisle going down their midst. Each one held a glowing candle in their tiny hands.

Emma heard whispers and the buzzing of their thoughts. She trembled, not from fear but from excitement. Not a one of them spoke or thought a single bad thing about her! Their whispers and thoughts were full of curiosity about her, admiration of her beauty that they considered exceptional for a mortal, and hope for their future as she became Sean's Queen and helped him rule. Sean, Emma was proud to overhear, was the best King they had had in centuries, and they knew that she would be a fit Queen for he had chosen her and she had a lovely aura.

As they started down the aisle, the singing rose and changed its tune. Only two Leprechauns did not join in. One was a wizened, green man who stood at the front where the thrones of the King and Queen would have been centuries ago. A glittering portal shimmered behind him with a pole sticking out of it. Puzzled, Emma looked closer and recognized the pole for being the handle of a broom!

It took her a moment to realize who the other Leprechaun she'd thought of as not singing was, and then she smiled secretively. It was her Sean. Her beloved Sean was a Leprechaun, a creature she'd believed to only be a myth most of her life, and not only a Leprechaun but their King! Her heart resumed its soaring as she marveled, and gave his hand a squeeze at the thought, that he would also soon be her husband!

When they reached the Ancient One, as she sensed the others thinking of the old Priest, the singing of the Little People's own wedding march hushed, and he began to speak to them in Gaelic. His voice was not especially high but reached every inch of the Great Room nonetheless. Sean whispered the translations of his words in Emma's ears, and she was reminded yet again of how pretty their language was, especially when compared to mundane English.

When the High Priest asked Sean whether or not he wanted to hold Emma always dear to his heart and soul as his wife, respect her in all ways forever, and love only her for all eternity and beyond, he was quick with his answer. Emma's heart beat a little quicker as Gaelic words poured from her love's mouth as rich and smooth as Irish whiskey, and then her heart fluttered like the wings of a caged bird suddenly set free after years of captivity as he translated just for her, "Aye! Wit' all me heart, soul, body, an' mind, wit' e'ery fiber o' me being, fer all time an' beyond, through everythin' an' anythin' tha' may come, I di! All tha' I am an' all tha' I have are yers from this moment on forever, if'n ye'll have me?" His eyes sparkled bewitchingly, and Emma ached to taste the sweet nectar of his charming mouth again.

The High Priest moved forward, but as he was wrapping a cord around Sean's hands, Sean leaned closer to Emma and whispered, "But ye be sure now, a ghr mo chro, fer there can nae be any giin' back. Once ye step through here wit' me, ye can ne'er return fer ye'll be dead tae th' people here."

The thought that so many of those they'd known who had appeared to lose their lives but yet returned from certain death alive did not cross Emma's mind. Instead her joyful spirits dampened at the thought that Sean still doubted her. She sensed, from their new mind-link, however, that he only wanted her to have no doubts or regrets for he loved her so much that he never wanted anything to make her sad ever again.

Emma brightened immediately, flashed her love a smile whose vivid warmth no one else would have thought her capable of, and turned her focus back on the Priest who was talking again. He looked into her shining, blue eyes, and Emma knew what he was asking before Sean even had a chance to translate.

"Yes!" she enthused, turning her head so that she could gaze into Sean's eyes as the Priest tied her hands with Sean's into the confines of the cord. She opened her mind to Sean then, as she continued to speak, and let all the love that she had only ever felt and would always only ever feel for him alone pour through their link. Along with her love, she let him feel her insurmountable joy and the height of happiness that she'd never known before.

"I've never known anything truer than what I feel for you, Sean, my love, and there is no doubt whatsoever in my mind, now that I know that you love me too, that we belong together! I would do anything to be with you! Sean, if I had not found you alive tonight, I would have joined you regardless, if you would have had me, in death. My life without you has been pure Hell. You are the only light in my world, my sole reason for living now, and the only man I could ever love!"

"I didn't think anybody could ever care for me again. The others had me convinced you never could have loved me. Only you saw me for who I am, and knowing you love me feels my heart with new life and my soul with excitement and love I never thought to feel in the first place and have never felt even after beginning to wish that you would one day make me feel that way until tonight!"

"There's nothing more that I want in this world or any other than to be with you, to be your wife, and to be loved by you! You say that all that you are shall be mine, but all that I am, all that I had, or what little I still have would have been yours so long ago if you'd only given me a chance to show you that list. I wanted you then. I want you now, and I will want, desire, need, and, most of all, love only you as long as there is anything left of me!"

The feelings that spread from her heart into his eased all his worries and gave his heart renewed wings to soar freely and joyously. Her words made his emerald eyes sparkle with fond memories and caused his mind both to ease in its worries, know only happiness, and question what had happened to his beloved since the last time he'd seen her before this magical night. Just how much pain had his friends visited upon his love? How cruelly had they treated her?

He could hear a grandfather clock chiming the time elsewhere in the castle, and his pointed ears wriggled. Emma raised her hands, lifting his as well in the process, and fondly caressed his right ear. He caught her hand in his, pressed them to his lips, and continued to hold her hands as, with the thought that her past with the X-Men did not matter for she would never know cruelty again and that, even if it did, his questions would have to wait, he turned back to his High Priest. In a choked voice, he explained what Emma had said to his gathered People and could barely wait for the Priest to finish saying his words over them before he pulled Emma even closer and kissed her long and deeply.

Weakness, excitement, sheer joy, utmost pleasure, complete happiness, and thrills beyond anything she'd ever felt before shot through Emma from that amazing kiss like the rings of a rainbow spiraling through the sky, and she was left feeling breathless and bedazzled when Sean pulled away. His emerald eyes danced enchantingly as he gazed into her baby blues and asked, his own voice soft for his breath, too, had been stolen away by the searing passion of their kiss. "Are ye ready, Mrs. Cassidy?"

Never had his rich and sensual voice caressed her ears more. "I've never been more ready for anything in my whole life, my darling husband!" The term of what Sean now was to her tasted sweeter than any candy ever had.

Then, hand in hand, with their heads held high and their spirits soaring far higher, they walked together over the handle of the broomstick stuck inside the doorway, through the portal that beckoned them home, and on to the rest of their lives, of which every day, from that moment forward, would be spent happily together.

All the rest of their people save the High Priest had gone on ahead, diving through the portal and back into the Faerie Realm with speed that only magick can grant. Behind his King who finally had the only Queen who would ever be right for him, the High Priest walked. He stepped into the doorway just after the Royal Couple, lifted the broomstick, and winked as all that had been there vanished from sight to live in their own land of happily ever after.

**The End**

Author's Note: If you enjoyed this story, or any of my other writings, I hope you'll consider joining my friends and I at a brand new fan fic/art site we're creating called Ficcers Unite. We welcome all fandoms, pairings (slash and het), and even no pairings at all, and we'll also be RPing a world where Disney and Marvel comes together in one universe. Come on over and check us out at ficcersuniteDOTproboardsDOTcom today!


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